How can two people in very similar situations have very different attitudes regarding what they are going through? Although personality and prior experiences greatly influence a person's attitude and approach, so too does one's perspective. Yet, unlike personality and prior experiences, one's perspective is very much the result of choice.
When you look at a building from a distance, at a slight angle, the part to which you are closest will appear larger than the rest of the building. Proximity, not just actual size, determines the relative size you perceive. This phenomenon is known as visual perspective. Although visual perspective does not involve choice, cognitive perspective does. Our outlook is defined not simply by what we know, but by the relative significance we assign to the things we know.
In other words, we make a choice, whether consciously or unconsciously, to consider some opportunities or troubles the most significant in our lives, and we then measure everything else against that. As we approach the Days of Unleavened Bread, we can find an instructive example of this principle in how the ancient Israelites viewed their deliverance from bondage. As we review the Israelites' experience of God's intervention in their lives, perhaps we can consider our own perspective on how God has dealt with each of us.
God Reveals His Plan
When God revealed His plan to the Israelites, He told them that their release from bondage would not be an easy affair, and Pharaoh would not readily let them go. Indeed, God revealed through Moses that Pharaoh would not let them go but by a "mighty hand" (cf. Exodus 3, 4). From the signs that accompanied the message Moses and Aaron delivered, the Israelites understood that the God of Abraham had indeed heard their cry and would deliver them from captivity. God revealed at this early point that He intended to lead them to a great and abundant land, "a land flowing with milk and honey"—a land then tended by the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. It is worth noting how much detail God revealed to His people about what lay immediately ahead. From what God had told the Israelites, they could understand that circumstances would grow more difficult before they would get better and that their freedom would not readily be granted, but that by the time God was finished dealing with Pharaoh and the Egyptians, the Israelites would leave Egypt with great riches. From what God told the Israelites about the peoples then inhabiting the land He had promised them, they could better understand what the land would be like and how it had been developed. In other words, they knew where they were going, and they knew what to expect when they got there. This is a remarkable level of detail. Physically speaking, this knowledge should have made it easier for the Israelites to face the obstacles that lay ahead.
God's Mighty Hand
Just as God had foretold, Pharaoh was determined to do things the hard way. Instead of quickly agreeing to what Moses and Aaron had requested, Pharaoh made life even more difficult for the Israelites. Indeed, it had been foretold that Pharaoh's heart would be hardened against the Israelites. This set the stage for God to introduce Himself to the Egyptians as the Ruler of all that exists.
The Egyptians were very religious, worshiping and seeking to appease a multitude of gods. Each god had its particular domain. Hapi was the god of the Nile. Heqet was the frog goddess of childbirth and life. Baal was the god of thunder and storms. Ra—the deity the Egyptians considered the most powerful in their pantheon—was the god of the sun. God intervened to show that His domain encompasses all that exists, and that the Egyptians' multitude of gods were powerless compared to the God of Abraham.
During the first three plagues, the Israelites suffered just as did the Egyptians, as Almighty God showed that Egypt's objects of worship were impotent— unable to offer protection, and unworthy of trust and worship. We should note that the Israelites had been greatly affected and influenced by the Egyptian culture in which they lived. They were not diligent in serving the God of their forefathers, and had instead adopted from their captors the worship of false gods. God intervened to show the Israelites that the false gods they had come to revere were empty and powerless. He began by turning the waters of Egypt into blood (cf. Exodus 7:14–25). Water is essential for survival, and the Nile was regarded as a source of life, but God struck it dead, along with the fish that were in it. Just as idolatry was a stench in God's nostrils, this object of worship was now the source of stench throughout Egypt.
Next, God caused frogs to leave the waters and spread across the land (cf. Exodus 8:1–14). Dead frogs were gathered into heaps, where the stench of their decay filled the nostrils of those who had once worshiped them. The Egyptians' objects of worship were being exposed as empty!
The last plague through which the Israelites suffered was the plague of lice. Beginning with the next—a plague of flies—God spared the Israelites from the plagues afflicting Egypt. God put a division between the Egyptians and the Israelites, so the plagues of flies, death of livestock, boils, hail and fire, locusts and darkness would afflict only the Egyptians (cf. Exodus 8–10).
Just as the Egyptians were in spiritual darkness, God made them dwell in physical darkness. Through these plagues—and through God's sparing the Israelites from the later plagues—God showed His limitless and supreme power. Amazingly, the first nine plagues were not enough to bring Pharaoh to the point of releasing the Israelites. Only the tenth plague—in which God struck dead the firstborn of men and beasts throughout Egypt—at last brought Pharaoh to the point of surrender, albeit temporary, to God's will (cf. Exodus 12:29–32).
Deliverance
Just as God had foretold, Pharaoh released the Israelites from captivity and they were thrust out of Egypt. Just as God had foretold, they did not leave empty, but spoiled the nation as they left (cf. Exodus 3:22; 12:35–36). After the Israelites left Egypt, Pharaoh had a change of heart and pursued them with his army. God then parted the Red Sea, leading the Israelites across on dry ground before the sea closed on top of Pharaoh's army (cf. Exodus 14–15). Imagine the flood of emotion that the Israelites must have felt as not only were they delivered through the Red Sea, but they also saw the destruction of their former captors. God showed Israel that His power and ability to deliver was without limit; that He could do the unimaginable and the impossible to accomplish His will.
When the Israelites were thirsty, He turned the bitter waters sweet (cf. Exodus 15:23–25). When they were hungry, He provided bread from heaven. When they desired meat, He gave them quail (cf. Exodus 16). His care and attention to their every need is clearly evident. As the Israelites saw how God responded to their every need, they should have developed a clear idea of what to expect from Him. After God delivered the Israelites from bondage, He revealed to them even more detail about His plan to bring them into the land He had promised them. God said He would instill fear in the hearts of the land's current inhabitants, that He would use hornets to drive them out, and that he would drive them out over time, as the Israelites' numbers increased, so they could adequately tend the land He had given them. God's plan for giving the Israelites a land flowing with milk and honey is absolutely beautiful (cf. Exodus 23:20–33). There was no detail overlooked, nor any aspect that could be improved upon. God's plan was perfect.
Searching Out the Land
When the Israelites came near to the land that God would soon give them, one spy from each of the twelve tribes was selected to enter and explore the land, then to return and give a report on what had been seen (cf. Numbers 13:1–21). Yet, although these men were told to search out the land, the Israelites already knew much about it. God had revealed that it was a land of great agricultural abundance, and He had declared who its current inhabitants were. As the spies explored the land, they found it to be exactly as God had described. They saw the inhabitants about whom God had told them.
When they returned, they brought back the fruit of the land as tangible, physical proof of what it contained, and they stated their findings to the Israelites. The spies all agreed about what the land looked like and contained. No one disagreed about the conditions in this "promised land." All twelve spies had experienced God's intervention as they were delivered into freedom. All were aware of God's intent to give them the land. Yet in spite of their common experiences, and the information God had given them about His plans, they did not all share the same perspective.
Perspective Rooted in the Here and Now
The spies who delivered the evil report did not dispute any of the facts. They agreed about what the land was like, but their difference in perspective became clear when they attached meaning to what they had seen. They attached very little meaning to God's ability to accomplish His will, but attached great significance to the visibly great military strength of the land's inhabitants.
Although these spies' experience with God should have shaped their perspective, it clearly did not. In making sense of what they saw, they clearly made the wrong choice, placing too great an emphasis on the physical, discounting their experience with the God of Abraham.
Upon seeing that the land was inhabited, with well-fortified cities, were the Israelites encouraged that they could simply move in at God's order, with the work of construction already done? No! They were disheartened, because their perspective was rooted in the physical, the hereand- now, which emphasized the large numbers of people and physical military strength apparently greater than the Israelites'. The spies' evil report was an abomination, and they died because of it. Those who acted based on this wrong perspective shared the same fate—wandering around, followed by death.
Perspective Rooted in Faith
Joshua and Caleb brought back a very different report. They did not dispute the facts; they saw what the other spies saw. However, their analysis— their perspective—could not have been any more different. In forming their report, Joshua and Caleb placed great weight on their experience with God, and on His ability and desire to intervene and provide for the Israelites' needs. They understood that everything God had foretold had occurred exactly as He had said. They would leave Egypt, but only by a strong hand would Pharaoh allow them to leave. They would take great riches with them when they left Egypt. God would give them a land of great agricultural abundance, and He had even told them who was then living in the land. All that remained was for God to drive out the current inhabitants, as He had said He would. Joshua and Caleb did not deny what their eyes had seen, but they attached far greater significance to what God had said. This gave them a different perspective than the other spies—a perspective rooted in faith.
Scripture tells us that "without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him" (Hebrews 11:6). Joshua and Caleb believed that God was able to do what He said, and that the physical obstacles, which appeared to stand in the way of the Israelites entering the land, were not obstacles to God. God said that the ancient Israelites "tested Me, tried Me, and saw My works," yet the result was that "they have not known my ways" (Hebrews 3:9–10). Their example is recorded for our admonition, so we may learn from, rather than repeat, their mistakes. "Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.… And to whom did He swear that they would not enter into His rest, but to those who did not obey?" (Hebrews 3:12, 18).
We cannot please God without faith. Joshua and Caleb shared a perspective distinguished by one main characteristic: faith. Their belief and trust in God shaped the way they viewed the world around them. Their example vividly illustrates the importance of maintaining a perspective of faith in God, measuring everything we see against our knowledge that Almighty God cares for His children and can accomplish His will. The spies who gave the evil report saw only the physical, so they had the wrong perspective. Which perspective do you have?